Chapter 6 – The Thing Behind the Door Knock.

Chapter 6 – The Thing Behind the Door

Knock.

"...Kael."

The voice was gentle.

Warm.

It sounded exactly like his older brother.

Kael's fingers trembled on the doorknob.

"It can't be..."

Another knock.

"I'm cold..."

"Please let me in."

A tear rolled down Kael's cheek.

He hadn't heard his brother's voice in years.

His hand slowly turned the knob.

Just as the lock clicked—

BANG!

The bedroom window burst open.

A black butterfly flew inside.

It landed on Kael's desk.

Tied to its leg was a tiny piece of paper.

Kael snatched it.

Three words.

DON'T LOOK BACK.

His heart stopped.

The knocking outside became louder.

Not gentle anymore.

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

The voice changed.

It was still his brother's...

But now it sounded wrong.

As if many voices were speaking at once.

"Kaaael..."

"Open..."

"The..."

"Door..."

Kael stumbled backward.

The lights flickered.

The shadow beneath the door grew longer...

Then fingers—thin, black, impossibly long—slid under the gap.

They scratched across the floor.

Slowly.

Searching.

Kael covered his mouth to stop himself from screaming.

Then...

A loud crash echoed from outside.

The scratching stopped.

The voice disappeared.

Silence.

The next morning, Kael rushed to school.

Noah was already waiting by the school gate.

The moment he saw Kael, he grabbed his shoulders.

"You didn't open it..."

Kael stared.

"How did you know?"

Noah let out a shaky breath.

"...Because in another loop..."

He looked away.

"...You did."

Kael's face paled.

"What happened?"

Noah didn't answer.

Instead, he quietly said,

"I buried you."

They walked toward class in silence.

Just before entering the building...

Kael noticed something strange.

Everyone around them was moving normally.

Laughing.

Talking.

Except one boy.

He stood perfectly still in the middle of the hallway.

His face was hidden beneath his bangs.

As Kael walked past...

The boy whispered without looking up:

"You weren't supposed to remember."

Kael stopped.

"What?"

The boy slowly raised his head.

His eyes were completely black.

Then...

He smiled.

A smile far too wide for any human.

Before Kael could react—

The school bell rang.

Students rushed through the hallway.

When Kael looked back...

The boy was gone.

End of Chapter 6

Mini story:

On the edge of the kingdom lived a quiet girl named Luna. Every time it rained, she would place tiny glass bottles outside her window.

People laughed.

"Why are you collecting rain?"

She would only smile. "Because every raindrop remembers the sky."

One stormy evening, she found a black feather inside one of the bottles. The feather shimmered with blue light.

As she touched it, a voice whispered,

"When darkness returns... find the boy with silver eyes."

She had no idea who he was.

Years passed.

One day, while walking through the market, she accidentally bumped into a hooded traveler. The hood slipped for a second.

Silver eyes.

Before she could say anything, he disappeared into the crowd.

Luna looked down and realized he had dropped something.

It was the exact same black feather she had kept since childhood.

She smiled.

"So... destiny finally arrived."

To Be Continued... 🌧️🪶

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